Arundhati Roy is one of the most renowned Indian writers, who is blessed with many human virtues, as she is a human rights activist, screenplay writer and world famous novelist, whose book entitled A God of Small Things won international prize in 1997. She generally focuses on the issues like social injustice, discrimination, repression and oppression, political disparities and economic inequality. Ms Roys articles are read all over the world with keen interest. In her latest article, The Trickledown Revolution, she has grilled Indias culture, politics, economy and human rights violation profile. Ms Roy remains in the news every now and then, due to her down-to-earth, discerning, pragmatic, perspicacious and savoir-faire reporting. Her articles, like Grasshoppers, shook India off its feet. Indeed, it is something that the Indian media can take credit for - showing guts or having the freedom of expression, by swallowing her anger, but seldom targeting their writers. Her current article, The 'Trickledown Revolution, published in Outlook, on September 20, is worth reading - not as opprobrium on India, but the courage she demonstrated to expose the ground realities. Meanwhile, it is not only India, but also the whole of the South Asia that is facing a similar dilemma. Poverty, however, is the mother of corruption and injustice, besides being the root cause of all social evils. It is, undoubtedly, a cauldron of social adversity that crushes the society morally, politically, economically and on many other accounts. Anyway, the latest in the series that remained a major focus and won public sympathies was when Ms Roy had openly expressed her solidarity with the youth of occupied Kashmir, who were injured due to the firing of the Indian security forces during the past four months. According to her, it was Jammu and Kashmir (besides Palestine) where peaceful protests were quelled with the use of brute force. The Kashmiri youth told her that they wanted nothing other than freedom from India and would continue their just struggle for their right to self-determination till complete success. Hence, Ms Roy while referring to her statements on Kashmir, claimed that she only spoke what millions of people in Kashmir have been saying since years: Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their mindspity the nation that needs to jail, those who ask for justice while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists and those who prey on the poorest of the poor roam free. According to an English daily, her statement came in the backdrop of the Indian government contemplating to take action against her and Hurriyets senior leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, under charges of sedition and seeking legal opinion in this regard. In her last two speeches one in New Delhi and the other in Srinagar - Ms Roy had sought independence for Kashmir from India. More so, while describing the pathetic state of Indias 830 million people, out of more than one billion, reeling in sheer poverty, she states: The people of India, who live on less than Rs 20 a day, the one who starve while millions of tons of food grain is either eaten by rats in government warehouses or burnt in bulk. (There was an idea floated a couple of weeks ago that such food be distributed among the poor people, which was turned down by Dr Manmohan Singh.) She further adds: They are the parents of the tens of millions of malnourished children in our country, of the two millions who die every year before they reach the age of five. They are the millions, who make up the chain gangs that are transported from city to city to build the New India. Is this, what is known as enjoying the fruits of modern development? What must they think, these people, about a government that sees fit to spend $9 billion of public money for two week sports extravaganza which for fear of terrorism, malaria, dengue and New Delhis new super-bug, many international athletes have refused to attend.That is why corrupt politicians in India never have a problem sweeping back into power, using the money they stole to buy elections. She asserted: We are building a new India in which our 100 richest people, millionaires and billionaires, hold assets worth 25 percent of our GDP. At the same time, she denounces empty rhetoric about the Indian administrations democracy, governance and other tall or hollow claims. But that is not to take the wind out from their sails, but to realise the gravity or magnitude of the problems and pay serious attention to relieve the masses of the endemic crises, as unrealistic and irrational fantasies never win any battle. It does not matter what Ms Roy said, who she is and what she projects? But what matters most is her agenda or objective. If it is to highlight the agonies and pangs of the poor masses, follow a rational and pragmatic approach and tell the truth to bring something good for the most deprived, afflicted and worst-hit innocent masses, it is holistic - the best thing one can do in ones life for the collective welfare of humanity. The writer is a freelance columnist.